The tectonic plates of our industry are shifting. In the last edition of this magazine, editor Ron Prince talked about the coming cloud, the virtual home for all things prep, shoot and post. Tools are changing, pipelines are becoming faster and new practices are being established. Of primary concern, and what will ultimately drive both the television and film industry in the immediate future, is presentation. Where and how will people see the material we shoot? And how can we retain control of the image (or should that be "regain", since it feels much ground has been lost in the last decade or so)? We need to know what to preserve and what to embrace as part of a bright new tomorrow.

As ever, technology will lead the way; the future of big screen cinemas and their projectors, the advance and sheer ubiquity of hand-held devices, the increasing popularity of straight-to-view platform productions and home cinema set-ups. Martin Scorsese, interviewed recently about his Netflix production The Irishman, said, "Please don't watch it on your phone". This is what we've come to, when one of the most creative and cinematic film directors of our age feels compelled to plea that proper attention be given to his and his crews' work.

Let's not replace the most over-used on-set adage, "We'll fix it in post" with "They'll never see it".

But change (evolution, preservation; the two sides of our coin) also happens at a micro level. Every cinematographer, wherever they are working, and on whatever sized budget, represents not just their crew and the camera department but also their profession. The DP should consider themself a lynchpin for creative freedom on-set and fairness and due recognition for all those behind the camera.

It is a crucial role and one we would do well to remember amid this evolution. Two people on any given set are charged with setting the tone - the director and the director of photography. True, the collective can create its own atmosphere, or the clique can provide its own bubble within a bubble, but the creative nexus, the accumulation of every department's work happens around the lens. The camera is the auditorium and proscenium arch.

It would be easy to think that we are fast moving away from the human touch, the sensibilities that bring forth a performance from an actor or the instinct that composes the picture. But technological innovation is itself a human touch. It is guided by, well, us basically and made real by the geniuses who make the tools.

Being passive observers to whatever changes come our way is not an option. Perhaps evolution will see "union" and "society" - both celebrating common purpose but coming from different directions - leaning in toward a middle ground. Both rely on active members. And unless those members are part of the conversation, irrelevancy and atrophy beckon.

Mike Eley BSC
President
British Society Of Cinematographers